


On All We've Built

by aftersundown



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: F/M, Fic Pain War, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Post-Movie, Psychological Horror, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aftersundown/pseuds/aftersundown





	On All We've Built

Akane's flashlight finds him at last. Ginoza is profusely weeping, heaving breaths both deep and shallow rising from tired lungs, curled up with face buried in his palms which are covered in blood. His knees are crumpled up close to his chest.

It was a jarring contrast to see him in this state; he wasn't in control, or collected. Akane swallowed hard. The men had removed his prosthetic arm, guaranteeing the lack of balance and ensuring his escape would not be swift if he made an attempt. The right sleeve of his shirt and the lower halves of his trousers have been either snipped recklessly or torn off, so that he could be chained up to the lonely post against the wall. His mouth is secured with tape, which she immediately removes.

Shimotsuki is standing by, uneasy. She doesn't want to but feels she must; mustering the will and raising her dominator, the Inspector directs it at her colleague and subordinate whom she hasn't seen in five months. Much had to have changed on the inside of that cool exterior she had become so acquainted with and had even admired from afar.

"Crime Coefficient: 204. Enforcement mode: Non-lethal Paralyzer. Target is a registered Enforcer. Status: Enforce at will."

A spike from 140.

Akane feels the lump in her throat.

"HOLD IT! PLEASE!" she screams.

Shimotsuki lowered the weapon, shut her eyes to process the concerning numerical reading and gruesome picture of the crime scene, then turned away with a saddened expression and slight frown. She had just wanted to know the difference between then and now.

Kunizuka and Hinakawa are taking in the sights and sounds as well, maintaining reserved expressions. Five suspects who had been dealt with via Non-lethal Paralyser were passed out on the floor. The enforcers spotted mazes of wires, among which were vats and drums which they were certain contained deadly acid - for the criminal whom they suspected was the main culprit now lay dead, in a contorted position along the rim of one of the vats. He had either been submerged or lost his balance and was burned until a horrific misshapen shell remained. The corpse was splayed out and facing Ginoza, mouth gaping but frozen, its arm stretched out as if hungry for its victim, in a twisted display of theatrics. One could still hear the hiss arising from the burns coating the body, if they leaned in close.

Sugo watched uncomfortably at his friend and superior. He looked away, calm but downcast, following a few moments of hearing Ginoza's distressed sobs, shaking his head though relieved that the blank unexplained passage of time of several weeks past had come to its end. It was time for more answers than questions at last, but prior to that was the window for Ginoza’s recovery from his trauma.

"Ginoza..," Akane lowered her voice, sounding the warmest she could to meet with the coldness of his fear. "Gino." She gets down on her knees in front of him.

"Tsu…ne….mori…," he lifts his head at last. Wipes the still-flowing tears clouding his eyes.

"I'm here. It's ok, I'm here," the Inspector takes his hand in hers, and pulls the curtain of his matted hair aside. Dried blood lines his forehead in angry paint-like streaks. The glazed look he has reflects psychological exhaustion, terror spread out too thin, and when she looks down, his knuckles are all bruised and a frightening crochet of defensive knife wounds in different intensities of crimson covers his arms. The expression he gives her - begging, apologetic - is nearly too much.

"I tho-I thought I could handle-"

His sobbing grows uncontrollable. Five months. A punishing duration to be in a hellhole as dank as this. She frees him of the chains using her lock pick.

Akane heard him whimper, and pulled him in the closest she could to embrace him tightly. She rubbed his back. "Shh, shh, shh….," her own eyes begin to well up.

"See? I can protect you too." She holds his face in both hands so that their eyes meet at the same level. The sweet smile he had hung on to all this time.

From beneath the enforcer's cracked exterior came a smile too, "I don't know what I'd d-do wi-without you."

"I knew you’d be able to pull through. I'm so proud of you," she is able to let out a laugh. It was time to say it before she suffered the regret again, “I-I love you.”

His eyes achieve a great clarity before softening. “I love you, too.”

But he winces all of a sudden and clutches his left side, unable to stand up on both bare feet, then collapses.

A gasp leaves her. She covers her mouth from the shock, eyes squinting and burning, but she regains composure moments later. “Quick! Get him to the hospital, FAST!”

 _Please, don’t go. Not now. Not after everything_ , her thoughts are swirling. _You are the strongest person I have ever known. Don’t give up now._

*

_It was a day off._

_Akane had sent Ginoza a message asking if she could drop by in the evening. He accepted. She held the bread basket she purchased in hand, concerned, approaching his quarters door._

_The evening was wonderful._

_He boiled some rich, hearty soup, to go with the bread she had brought over._  
_They had filled those light hours with casual conversation and even laughter._

_But they had both shied away from just breaking it to each other, that they were indeed in love._

_Ginoza wasn’t able to fool himself about how much he thought of the joyful light in her eyes. How often he saw those eyes shimmering in his thoughts, when they were physically apart. What halted him was the belief that she didn’t deserve a caged hunting dog like him._

_Akane can’t deny the deep compassion she had come to feel for the person under her care and supervision, who had been through so much. Who had changed so much. He was so protective, perhaps to a fault. However, she found it a most endearing and precious trait. He was always looking out for her, regularly asking if she was okay. And he deserved much more._

_Each could read the signs, and feel it down to the bone._

_But when the night was no longer young, Akane wished him goodnight and he did the same, both of them brushing it under the rug once more, but not giving thought to the possibility that they would not get another chance at this._

*

It has been just over eleven weeks since his disappearance. No leads. But she is still not sure. To her dismay, he feels less and less real these days, likened to a blip on a radar with no heartbeat, as each difficult minute elapsed.

Dime lets out a long, heart-wrenching whine.

Akane is crying too. The man she now knew she truly loved may not come home ever again through the door at the top of the stairs, which she faces.

The husky’s tail thuds against the couch in the softest manner. She buries her wet face in the dog’s neck, feels Dime’s paws and muzzle on her lap, feels his warmth, feels the memories woven together in a tapestry. The sunlight is whiter than it is yellow, more unfeeling than she remembers it being. She had not given up yet. But it is conceivable – the world may now be without one trusted Enforcer. She aches to know what has or is transpiring, no matter how violent or undeserved. Akane’s hue would stay Powder Blue through it all but it is this that scares her. If Ginoza – having led a hard, short life – had left this world, she knew she would move on, somehow. Through the regret, hollowness and inner questioning of why she had to lose him, she would be able to move on. Instead, it is the absence of certainty that eats away at her more than anything. That morning, she had even lost her temper with the division, Mika being the one having to preserve the cool in the volatile space for once. No leads, just dead ends. Nobody was getting closer to clarity.

Mournful whines continue sounding from Dime’s throat. Anyone could leave. At any time, at any place. This bitter truth ricocheted off her with new raw force, each time she set eyes on his coin collections, shades of green, her own inspector’s jacket, his empty desk and chair in the office, along with the house plants livening up the windowsills and console table around her, which she could now name individually because he taught her.

Why she had not confessed she was in love with him, on a night like this some time before he was taken, she cannot fathom at this moment.

*

_It was the third day since he had wound up in this place._

_Pointing his dominator at the dark figure proved futile, for the reading the weapon obtained rose only to 12. Criminally asymptomatic._

_“Why do you want me here?” the Enforcer began, when the culprit was done chuckling._

_“I need an Inspector’s take on how I am going to deal the MWPSB the hardest blow.”_

_His voice was more like a low constant growl, and he was taller than Ginoza, even though the Enforcer’s height was six feet._

_“Well, “ex-Inspector” is more accurate, but it counts. You are not too bad a choice, since you took the bait first instead of your lady friend Tsunemori. Very sweet of you.” He had on fingerless gloves, Ginoza observed. Gloves with lethal-looking spikes for knuckles._

_The man raises a mighty fist, which then rains down hard across the Enforcer’s cheek. It is the first of many punches, and kicks._

_“Besides, I thought we’d do some catching up. There is another point in history where we crossed paths.”_

_He revealed himself as the one who was pack leader, highest in rank among the boys who had bullied the Enforcer in their school days. Ginoza failed to recognize any of them. Now he was ringleader of a deadly, effective, resourceful and low-key terrorist group, bent on disrupting the order brought about by Sibyl. Two of his subordinates were busy with their tablets, reading up on files where information was nestled, and downloading others. The other three men made up the muscle, mobilized their plans, such as making and planting explosives._

_Worst of all was not the punching and kicking that brought back the memories of being left bleeding before class, or the sedatives that rendered him semi-awake and too helpless to escape successfully. It wasn’t how the only food he relied on was the scraps the men threw him if they had leftovers to begin with. Or how water was only brought to him when any of the men actually remembered their prisoner was to be kept alive, which was of course at irregular times each day._

_The men were making marionettes of Ginoza’s deepest regrets. They jeered on, poking fun at the dark nooks and crannies of the Enforcer’s shortcomings and past mistakes._

_"The son of a latent criminal. And surprise, surprise, look who has received the same fate!"_

_Ginoza was a means to an end once more. When would he stop being valued on that basis? An instrument was all he’d been reduced to since his father became a latent criminal; for amusement on the unforgiving school courtyard when teachers weren’t looking, and now a hunting dog for the police force. This was the case even when he was an Inspector, under Kasei’s iron resolve._

_It all begged the question, already fuzzy in his mind, of how close Akane was to finding him, as each of the men mocked him and maniacally laughed. He fights to keep the image of her optimistic smile crystal clear in his mind._

_He had protected her, at least. Gone in to test the waters in Sugo’s place because Sugo had sustained a leg injury that merited attention and resulted in him limping. Akane, ever the selfless Inspector, insisted she enter the pitch-black corridor ahead to scout the eerie location. It seemed to give the entire squad – the Enforcers in particular, with their keenly honed intuition – ill vibes. Ginoza asserted that he be the first to set foot in the unknown space, since Sugo who had volunteered initially was out of commission. He and Akane had had an argument. But down in his gut was a wretched feeling that he knew would only grow worse if he didn’t defy her orders._

_“Listen, Tsunemori. I have to protect you!!” he had barked. “We can protect you,” he motions to the other Enforcers._

_“It doesn’t mean you can keep me from protecting you too!” Akane retorted._

_Not a second passed before the game changed._

_Blinding white lights switching on above them._

_Ginoza shouting._

_Shutter doors sliding and closing off the walkways at alarming rapidity._

_Confusion._

_Time bought for the men – several minutes – to escape undetected, with Hound One in their clutches._

_His vision is now blurry. Tears spring to the corners of his eyes. “Shinya’s not here to protect you anymore, ” the leader of the men sharply remarks. “No one is coming.”_

_More loud laughter._

_His strength is waning. The pain melts away, to leave behind only numbness._

*

The days haven’t felt separate from one another in a while. Ginoza is weak from the loss of muscle mass, not to mention needed nutrition. The fever is back – a recurring and vile character.

They have taped his mouth shut to muffle the screaming.

His head hangs as he tries to blot out the pain in his stomach, along with the awful thoughts that accompany delirium. He winces as someone painfully yanks him by his matted ponytail, pulling his head back upward.

To his horror, his father’s eyes bore into his.

“I can’t be patient forever, you know,” Masaoka is scowling.

 _Think, think, think. They’re using a holo,_ Ginoza is fighting the fear amidst the heat of the fever.

“Are you going to tell me what you know about Akane Tsunemori?”

“D-dad.....this is cruel, please...This is cruel!” the Enforcer’s lips quivered.

“It shouldn’t take an eternity, if you actually play along.”

The holo is gone, and the leader’s firm hand is tightening around his throat. “How does she uphold the law in that graceful valiant fashion she’s known so well for?”

Sobs are heard throughout the dark room, “Get me out of here!”

“You don’t get to change the subject. Wrong answer.”

Ginoza is suddenly too aware and alert, for an unusual pain that is not from his bruised ribs. Something sliced through the effects of the sedatives. He feels heat flowing from his left side, around the abdomen.

But he gives it his all. He has been planning this for weeks.

He bashes his head into the man’s skull, with as much strength as he could gather.

A tangle of wires on the floor play a part. Chilling shrieks reverberate throughout the chamber.

The dripping tap in the other corner of the room is no longer what marks time for Ginoza. The overlapping sound of footfalls, the urgent barking of instructions –

Was that Shimotsuki’s voice?

*

It is a quiet night for the hospital staff, two weeks later.

A scurry of approaching footsteps echoed outside, followed by the whoosh of his hospital room doors. Akane hurried in, taking no time at all to let her briefcase drop to the ground beside the bed. He was awake, flexing his real arm which was all he had for now. The new prosthetic was to be sent over any day, but for the time being Akane feels a small pull of sadness inside.

No introduction was required either, for the Inspector leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on Ginoza’s forehead. Blinking happily, he stretched out his arm to the side, motioning without words for her to lean in so he could feel her warmth and spirit again.

Akane shoots him a quizzical look, then gazes at the thick gauze taped over his stab wound.

“It’s okay, the knife didn’t make it far. The pain is much less now,” he smiles. A pause hangs in the air, preceding a request of his. “Can I hold you?”

Later, the nurse on duty is making her rounds, the next room being Ginoza's.  
She opens the door to find him and Akane asleep, foreheads meeting. The Inspector curled up in a rather sweet and hopefully not too uncomfortable half-sitting position.

Something about the pain - and newfound joy - she can see etched in their faces, with their breathing in perfect sync, paints a picture for her of what they both could have possibly endured.

Visiting hours had just ended, but a kind grin stretches across the nurse's face. She could allow the two a little more time together – regulations and the like could wait.

Ginoza stirred momentarily at some point, feeling the safety of Akane’s touch. She would protect him from darkness. He would tell her everything, and rested in the comfort that she would be the perfect listening ear. He laughed softly, glad and relieved, for saying those words that stayed trapped for so long.


End file.
